Godflesh – Post Self – album review

Justin K. Broadrick and G. C. Green are back as Industrial Metal Originals Godflesh with the new album Post Self. It’s not an easy listen but even so is one of Fighting Boredom’s favourites of the year, read the review below.

Godflesh are the best and some would argue original British Industrial Metal band. They are one of the five bands in the Home of Metal project and have provided us with some of the best and hardest music that we know. Live they are unstoppable. As you can tell, Fighting Boredom are quite partial to some Godflesh and a new record is something of an event for us.

Post Self comes three years after their brilliant A World Lit Only By Fire. It deals with the human condition, as they put it‘The album deals with themes of anxiety, depression, fear, mortality, and paternal/maternal relationships.’ The sound is still unmistakably Godflesh but stripped back and even more focused than usual. They have gone back to their formative influences and the sound reflects that, post punk concrete bleakness leeching into the sound, layers of ash and dust falling and dampening the beats, the static sounds of Council Estate Electronics buzzing in the background and the relentless massive beats and screams fading into light and space and a My Bloody Valentinesque wavering guitar wash. The vocals also change from the usual growl to something gentler and more desperate.

There is a feeling of losing control and isolation to the music, it’s intimate and gets totally inside your head and if you let it will take over for the duration of the album. It’s as if the sound takes you into your darkest moments, when you lie desperate for sleep in the tiny hours of the morning with no respite from your thoughts. When everything around you is bright and happy bit there’s a darkness in your heart. It’s relentless in it’s delivery but essential listening.